Thousand Oaks to Consider Cutting 35 Jobs : Budget: Public works would lose 14 positions. A hearing on the $60.8-million spending plan is scheduled Tuesday.

A proposed $60.8-million budget submitted to the Thousand Oaks City Council this week reflects the elimination of 35 jobs, City Manager Grant Brimhall said Thursday.

The cuts are necessary because the city is receiving a reduced share of property tax money from the state and is being assessed new fees by the county. The county has started charging cities for booking prisoners into County Jail and for collection of property taxes.

“We’ve had massive revenue rip-offs by the state and the county” and local sales tax revenues have declined, Brimhall said.

The city spent $16.6 million on salaries this fiscal year and has set aside $15.4 million in the proposed budget to pay employees next fiscal year--a $1.2-million saving.

City Finance Director Bob Biery said it is unlikely that any eliminated jobs will be restored during the 1992-93 fiscal year.

The council has scheduled a public hearing Tuesday on the spending plan. Council members are expected to vote on the plan after the hearing.

The belt-tightening began at City Hall before the proposed budget was submitted this week. Thirteen workers were laid off with three weeks of severance pay earlier this week, said Greg Eckman, human services manager.

Four workers were demoted to other positions after their jobs were eliminated, and 18 vacant jobs have been eliminated because of resignations or early retirements, Eckman said.

The eliminated jobs would involve 14 in public works, four librarians and aides, five in the Utilities Department, three in the Building and Safety Department, three in the Finance Department, three in the Planning Department and three in city administration.

The loss of some jobs--including street-sweeper, tree-trimmer and librarian positions--will mean scaling back library hours and public works services, officials said.

Brimhall has proposed shutting down the city’s two public libraries on Fridays and reducing street-sweeping from twice to once a month beginning in July.

“We tried to evaluate which services would be the least adversely affected,” he said.

The loss of maintenance workers, however, means that residents will have to contend with potholes, overgrown trees and dirty streets, said John P. Clement, public works director.

“Everything will get done. It’s just going to take longer to do it,” he said. “When you lose a number of people, something’s got to give.”

The worker layoffs have been criticized by representatives of the city’s two labor unions. Only seven of the 35 jobs lost were management positions, one union official said.

“They’ve laid off the little people,” said Barry Hammitt, a spokesman for the Thousand Oaks City Employees Assn., which represents non-management workers.

Another union representative said the city could eliminate some capital improvements and road-construction projects rather than eliminate employees.

“The city has some projects that could be scaled back in order to keep needed employees,” said David Cochran, a spokesman for the Thousand Oaks Management Assn.

A separate budget for capital improvements, which includes the city’s plan to build a $63-million civic arts plaza at the former Jungleland site, will be reviewed in the fall, said Biery, the finance director.

The city also proposes to spend less for its contract with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department for law-enforcement protection. The budget proposal calls for three deputy jobs--a detective, a Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer and a traffic officer--to be eliminated.

But the cost of law enforcement--the largest single expense in the budget--will increase 14%, from $8.3 million this year to $9.5 million next year.